Setting up a CB antenna in a daycab 2017 Cascadia.

Discussion in 'CB Radio Forum' started by corneileous, Dec 23, 2024.

  1. mike5511

    mike5511 Road Train Member

    3,141
    1,523
    May 15, 2011
    NW Arkansas
    0
    Running a ground "wire" longer than 18" or so is liable to make it act like a radiator for your signal. You want all the signal going out the antenna, not down a ground wire.
     
    craig_sez and corneileous Thank this.
  2. Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.

  3. corneileous

    corneileous Road Train Member

    1,366
    335
    Nov 19, 2009
    Podunk, OK
    0
    What else is there?
     
  4. craig_sez

    craig_sez Road Train Member

    5,569
    2,711
    Sep 5, 2013
    novascotia,Canada
    0
    Your impedences,ground plain(for the lack of a better word)antenna effeciency.....
    Point being that a dummy load will have a perfect swr but doesnt tx/rx worth a crap..
    Swr has no real bearing on antenna performance...

    Many out there put way to much weight into swr being end all to be all re ant performance..
     
  5. craig_sez

    craig_sez Road Train Member

    5,569
    2,711
    Sep 5, 2013
    novascotia,Canada
    0
    Yup it will act more like a dipole then..Its one of a few times a woman likes it short..lol
     
  6. craig_sez

    craig_sez Road Train Member

    5,569
    2,711
    Sep 5, 2013
    novascotia,Canada
    0
    I would also suggest that if you want your set to work better you best spend some time with your nose buried into swr myths/bonding/antenna choices and requirements..
     
  7. Night Stalker10

    Night Stalker10 Road Train Member

    1,674
    1,248
    Jun 26, 2017
    0
    Here's a great website that's loaded with great information.

    KØBG.COM

    Checkout the link called bonding. It should help you understand better about RF ground.
     
    craig_sez and corneileous Thank this.
  8. corneileous

    corneileous Road Train Member

    1,366
    335
    Nov 19, 2009
    Podunk, OK
    0
    Hmm. So then what’s one of the signs that an excessively long antenna mount ground wire is creating a dipole effect?

    Maybe I guess that was happening on my old England truck but the radio still served my needs well. I had a range of at least 2 miles, I think?

    Well, SWR is important but yes, I know there’s more to it than just SWR. As far as my ground plane and antenna mount, that might be questionable. Also, I’m not using an 18-foot coax, either. Mine is only about 9-feet. Coulda went a little shorter but that was all my local Pilot had but anywho, too many people over on the RadioReference forums said that was totally unnecessary to run that much cable unless you actually needed it. As far as my antenna, I’m still using a short, 3-foot fiberglass FireStik antenna that has a tunable tip and also, I have the luxury of not having to get into that co-phased setup from a sleeper and 13-6 trailer getting in the way because this is just a flat-top daycab truck pulling a 38-foot frameless end dump.
     
  9. corneileous

    corneileous Road Train Member

    1,366
    335
    Nov 19, 2009
    Podunk, OK
    0
    I think I’ve been to that web page before. There is good info there.
     
  10. craig_sez

    craig_sez Road Train Member

    5,569
    2,711
    Sep 5, 2013
    novascotia,Canada
    0

    The shorter the antenna the harder radio works to do the same as a longer antenna..
    Coax length is a battle that will go on and on and on with no definate single answer..
    Cheap antenna/coax and the ends used on said coax most times do more harm than good so ya cant be doin it cheap(i dont mean spending big boy $ on that stuff either)and expect your set up to do the same as your buddys..

    When it comes to bonding its time consumeing....Basically with all tje different metals in a truck and the insulators between those metals,your trucks ability to be able to help your tx or rx signals to move around..Your wanting to make your truck somewhat like a sattilite dish to send and rec...This is where bonding helps....Another example of ground plain (for the lack of a better term) is the horizontal metal surface under the antenna..This is basically what the antenna wants to see(the imaginary other half)..In a home base set up the ground plain is the spider web of wireing under the antenna...
    This is basically how we have to simulate the ground plain and do it with bonding....Keep in mind its not just one wire and your done..What you do to one door you do to the other..When you do other parts such as cab to frame you gotta do it all around..Rf is supposed to return to its source..
     
    mike5511 Thanks this.
  11. Ridgeline

    Ridgeline Road Train Member

    22,367
    116,015
    Dec 18, 2011
    Michigan
    0
    I disagree.

    If there is a common mode current problem then this would be true but you need two parts of the radiator system for it to work. The RF ground is needed, it is part of the signal from the negative side of the radio wave.
     
  • Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.